Le Grand Guignol
by Trippett
Summary: This is an alternative take of the flashback we saw at the end of 1x15 - Le Grand Guignol. What would/could have happened if Niklaus understood Rebekah when she blamed herself for their father coming to town.


**A/N: This is the first story I have written in _along_ time. Hopefully I'll write more. I definately plan to get around to updating my current unfinished stories, but I'm not going to put a timeframe down as, considering the amount of stories I have going, I wouldn't be able to stick by it.**

**I have used _alot_ of dialogue from 1x15 and 1x16 and just reshuffled it...I think there may be too much talking involved considering the circumstances, but I couldn't help but feel it all needed to be said (as it actually has been - all of which took place after Klaus found out what really happened, so all I've done is made them have this conversation early). It does, of course, have my own work in there, too, otherwise there wouldn't be much point of me posting.**

**Anyway, please read and review. Feedback is always welcome, but as always, no flames please.**

* * *

"The final act of Le Grand Guignol is upon us! Where are my players? Enough running, children! Step out of the shadows so we can finish this tale of sorrows." Mikael screams as he walks down the main street with his white oak stake in hand, blood smeared across his lips and staining his shirt.

* * *

A few streets over, Niklaus carries an unconscious Rebekah in his arms, while Elijah hurries beside them down the dark street.

"He's coming." Elijah states, looking behind them.

"Okay." Niklaus says softly as he places Rebekah on the ground. Elijah steps up onto the sidewalk and breaks off a metal rod from someone's fence, while Niklaus bites into his wrist and puts it close to Rebekah's mouth to awaken her, "Drink, sister."

She slowly opens her eyes and stares, confused, up at Niklaus before remembering what happened, "Marcel!"

Niklaus lets out a sad sigh and looks away from her, back at the opera house they'd fled from, which was now in flames. The screams and cries of the audience trapped inside can be heard over the crackling fires. Rebekah notices the direction of his glance and looks as well, letting out a slight gasp at the sight.

Elijah stands behind his siblings, looking down at Rebekah with a pained look on his face, "He's gone, sister."

"No!" Rebekah whimpers, letting out a sob. Her gaze moves from the burning building down to the floor, looking lost and broken.

"Both of you must flee the city." Elijah tells them, tightening his grip on the metal rod as Niklaus looks up to him with a grim look on his face, "I'll hold him off, Niklaus."

Niklaus pulls Rebekah to her feet and looks down to the end of the street; their exit. "No." He tells them, taking a breath, "We fight him together."

"We cannot fight him." Elijah tells him calmly, the breath he releases clearly visible due to the cold, "All we can do is do what we've done. We deceive him." He looks back to where Mikael will be coming from, "We lead him astray. Now, I can do that as well as anyone." He adds, using a hand to indicate himself.

Rebekah begins to cry, but Elijah continues, speaking solely to Niklaus, "You take her far away from here…I'll find you."

"No, Elijah. You can't." Rebekah sobs, "You can't, Elijah!" She says again, before looking to Niklaus, afraid of his reaction, "This is just- this is my fault!"

"What are you talking about?" Elijah askes with concern as he goes to manoeuvre past them.

Niklaus closes his eyes for a second, as if in physical pain, before raising his hand and placing it on Elijah's shoulder to stop him. "She brought him here…" He tells him, eyes now on Rebekah.

The oldest of the three siblings halts and glances down at her as well, "Please tell me this isn't true, sister." He says, eyes moving from her face to Niklaus'. Taking her silence as the admission it was, he takes a step back from them and points, shocked, at their burning city. "Why would you bring _this_ down upon us, of all things? I thought we'd found a home here!"

"I knew he was the only one that you feared and I wanted you to run." Rebekah tells Niklaus, ignoring Elijah to try and make the younger of her brothers understand. "You are hateful. You denied me the freedom to love. You were cruel and controlling and manipulative."

"I was trying to protect you! From imbeciles and leeches, not to mention your own poor judgement. And anyway, I have let you be with Marcel-!" He almost yells before cutting himself off, glancing down to make sure their father hadn't found them yet.

"After how many years of telling us we couldn't be together, and the punishments _I _received for not obeying you?!" Rebekah fires back, tears streaming down her face.

"She wanted to be finally rid of me." Niklaus states, taking a step back and glancing at Elijah. "Because she hates me." Niklaus says, more a statement of fact than anything, but Rebekah shakes her head. "Admit the truth. Admit you wanted me dead."

She shakes her head again, adamant, "I wanted you to run! That is all!"

Niklaus makes a sudden, frustrated start towards her which makes her take a timid step backward, "You wanted me dead! Just admit it!"

She glances at Elijah and then down the road at the city which had been theirs and Marcel's home; taking in that both the city and Marcel were now in the process of burning, "Maybe I did." She lets out, after a few confused seconds of silence. "What has happened to you?" She asks the question quietly, "I remember the sweet boy who made me laugh and gave me gifts, who loved art and music…I wanted to be just like you!" She tells him, "How could you have fallen so far?"

Niklaus blinks and nods, looking down "You accuse me of being evil," He tells her just as quietly, "and yet _you_ are the one who conspired to kill your own blood."

"You made our lives a living hell. You tormented us." Rebekah told him again, trying to justify the destruction all around them.

Niklaus reaches out to touch her shoulder, before pulling back slightly, a tear sliding down his cheek, "I love my family!" He tells her, pained, "You…Elijah." He glances at his brother to include him, "I loved all of you." He adds, "Everything I did, I did to protect this family. The pain I have caused each of you…" He rubs a hand down his face, exhausted, "It was my way of trying to teach you…the _only_ way I know how! I know I can be more than difficult, but I did not make myself this way! It was Mikael who ruined me!" He once again glances down the road, but seemed satisfied they had enough time to finish, "What is it you want, Rebekah?" He asks her desperately, turning back to her.

"The same things I've wanted since I was a child," She tells him, like he should know the answer, "I want a home, I want a family, I want someone to love me. And I want to live." She glances down the road, too, knowing their father wasn't far away now.

Niklaus gives a slight nod of his head after letting out a breath, "Then go. Go far away and never come back here." Rebekah looks back up at him, startled, but he continues, "We are far too damaged to remain together. Less a family, now, than a volatile mix of ingredients. You, sister…" He glances at Elijah, "Brother…are free." He moves closer to Elijah and grasps the metal rod with both hands, giving a gentle tug and releasing it from his brother's grip. "I think it's finally time I faced my demon." He says, more to himself than either of his siblings, testing the weight of the weapon in his hands.

"It's suicide, Niklaus." Elijah tells him, finally coming out of the daze he'd been in due to the confessions his siblings had made, and placing a hand back on the slim piece of metal to stop his brother.

"Maybe," Niklaus allowed, giving a slight nod, "Either he dies, or I do. One way or another, it'll finally be other." He looks to Rebekah a moment, and then back to Elijah, "Protect her and keep her safe, brother. That is all I have ever wanted; for each of you." He moves to the middle of the street, facing away from them and down to where their father had just appeared; silhouetted by flames. "No matter the outcome," He says to them over his shoulder, hefting his weapon onto the other, "You will not see me again. Now go."

He glances over his shoulder at both of them one last time, before taking a breath and walking away from them and towards the man he still calls father.


End file.
